In his liner essay for
Ride the Wild TomTom, former
dB's member
Peter Holsapple jokingly describes this collection as "the equivalent of our
Basement Tapes," and that statement actually describes the contents fairly well, especially when one remembers that
Bob Dylan's
Basement Tapes were mostly recorded as a goof. A collection of rehearsal tapes, demos, early single sides, and inside jokes,
Ride the Wild TomTom is hardly a definitive portrait of
The dB's, but anyone looking for a ragged-but-right look at the band's formative days during
Chris Stamey's tenure with the band will eat it up. Along with early versions of "Soul Kiss," "Modern Boys and Girls," and "A Spy in the House of Love,"
Ride the Wild TomTom features a highly individual cover of The Grassroots' "Let's Live for Today," a commercial jingle for the East Coast music magazine New York Rocker (the band was using their offices as a rehearsal space), and the mock-punk onslaught "Hardcore Judy." Committed
dB's fans will find this to be hoot, and while it's hardly the best introduction to the band's music, the quality of
Chris Stamey and
Peter Holsapple's songwriting shines through on even the jokiest numbers. ~ Mark Deming